An Autobiography

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Orkney at the turn of the century was a quiet place; a place of lichen-spotted stones and gleaming seas where Edwin Muir listened to family tales of wrecks and witches and distant wars – little imagining that he was to become one of Scotland’s great men of letters. But at the age of fourteen he was flung from this magic isle into the slums, offices and factories of Glasgow to endure such misery that he could not write of it, even after many years, without grief and anger. Escape came through his socialism, his love for Willa and his writing, leading him south to join the wandering intelligentsia of Bloomsbury and Europe as teacher, poet and critic.

This renowned autobiography lets us share both the beauty of Edwin Muir’s childhood and the hardship of his youth, carrying us with him on his journey to fame. With its gentle, lyrical prose and its tolerant openness to change, it is, unmistakably, the work of a writer of genius.